TJ:
I would say in the next two to three races to be honest.
McLaren are very good at updating their cars quite quickly, in terms of aerodynamics, suspension development and that is what I expect them to be doing. They are a team that is geared to react and make fast changes. I think they will be a little bit disappointed that they didn’t do that a bit more in Bahrain and they certainly didn’t do that in Spain. Third place was a good solid result - but that is all you can say and McLaren will have been disappointed with that result. They need to be challenging.
Crash.net:
Heikki Kovalainen obviously had that huge crash in Spain too.
TJ:
Yeah, they suspect that a wheel rim broke on the left front and if that happens, you lose all steering and off you go. I mean the velocity of that crash and then burying yourself in the tyre wall like that, which the FIA will review - the fact he actually went under the skirts of the tyre wall and buried himself. The big test for him is can he pass all the medical tests pre-Turkey? If not does [Pedro] de la Rosa [McLaren’s third driver] get a ride? I rate Heikki very highly. I always have. He is a very, very fast driver and I hope he makes it. I hope he gets to race in Turkey. Heikki and Lewis are great team-mates as well. It is great to see them work together. They are a great combination.
[Tony was speaking prior to confirmation Heikki will race in Turkey this weekend - Ed].
Crash.net:
How important is it for the FIA to look at those barriers, because, as you say, Heikki was buried for quite so time and if the accident had been worse, well that could have had serious consequences?
TJ:
Yeah, also the McLaren held up very well - the front nose box was scrunched and a lot of the deformable structures did there job. But look it is still a dangerous sport and the fact the car managed to go under the skirting I am sure is under full investigation by the
FIA. How did that happen? Why did it happen? The belting that goes in front of all of the tyres is crucial and if the car went in at a certain angle and pierced under the edge of the skirting they will want to know why. They will come up with some results for that and then they will make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Crash.net:
In the build up to Turkey we have lost the
Super Aguri team and that is a big blow for the sport isn’t it?
TJ:
It is a big blow for the sport and I think it is a big blow for Aguri Suzuki. It is a big blow for
Honda too and they all tried very, very hard to rescue the situation. But ultimately you have to survive and you have to have the financing to survive. There aren’t any hand-outs for anyone - sadly. For me
Takuma Sato and
Anthony Davidson are great, great drivers. They should be on the grid. They are not on the grid and I hope they can get more rides in the future. But Aguri Suzuki is bruised and battered now. He has gone away saying: ‘That is the Piranha Club and I don’t want to dip my fingers back in there - I don’t want to get bitten again’. You can understand that. The guy is exhausted. He has tried every rescue deal in the business to try and keep the cars on the grid and it has failed. But at the same time Bernie [Ecclestone] looks at it from the image of the sport and he doesn’t want struggling minnows, making the sport look, almost, impoverished. He has got some very, very high standards and some very high achievers in terms of all the other teams. So certain standards have to be met at the same time. The sad thing for SA
F1 is that they were very close to a lot of money from Dubai and that is what should have happened. I don’t know why it didn’t and now they are no longer on the grid. The sad thing for Great Britain is we don’t have Anthony Davidson and the sad thing for Japan and GB, because everyone knows Takuma very well, is they are not around. Let’s hope they come back soon.
Crash.net:
A lot has been written about FIA president
Max Mosley since those articles in British newspaper,
The News of the World. What do you think? Should he stay or should he go?
TJ:
The World Motor Sport Council is going to make a decision on that and I think the biggest thing you can really say about it is that Max is a fighter. He believes passionately that what he did was in private and that is up to him to defend and for others to judge. I think that people like myself, who are inside the sport, say you know what: 'he has done a great job in the past and he has done a fabulous job for road safety'. I have always admired the way he has worked. But he personally will have to question in the future whether he has brought the sport into disrepute or not. If he wins the vote from the Council he then has to decide himself if the position is tenable. The ball is in his court. There is no doubting his ability, his talent in that respect. But if others judge he has brought the sport into disrepute then he has to listen and make his own decision.
